Rigel

The only Rigel missile still in existence is owned by the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island. They're not open to the public yet, no plans have been made to exhibit the missile, and its currently on loan to the National Air & Space Museum. Given the pics on their web site, they certainly seem to have my bird. According to some acounts, the Rigel program was something of a fiasco, though others claim it had promising results. It certainly was a number of firsts; the first cruise missile, the first supersonic ramjet propelled weapon, the first long range missile, the first sea launched weapon system, etc. BuAer contracted for it in 1946, Grumman began testing in 1950, and in 1951 those operations moved to Point Mugu. As many as thirteen missiles were fired (with as many as eleven failures), the last in August of 1952, and the program was cancelled in August, 1953.

My Rigel is built from Estes parts. The nose cone is the PNC-20Y from the Yankee mounted in a truncated PNC-60L found on the Big Bertha, and the mid-body transition is the PTC-5560. Seventeen grams of clay and lead in the nose makes her more than stable on the E9, and she sports a 3½-inch long 24 mm motor mount to accomodate that motor. The two forward fin sets are ¹/16th inch balsa, the rear wings are ¹/8th inch, and their rudders are ³/32nd inch. All those fins make for a pretty high Cd, and made keeping the top speed under 300 ft./sec. a must. Their cantilever construction suggested that I keep the launch stresses below 20 Gs as well. Recovery is by Rogue 18" nylon 'chute to bring her down nice and slow. Its protected by a Pratt Hobbies parachute protector and attached with 300# Kevlar and ¼" elastic.

The D12 ejects very late, the E11 is over the speed limit, and the D21 is that and over the load limit, so she may never see those motors. The E6 and E9 are perfect, though, gentle and perfectly timed. The E6 and the F10 take her higher than I'd want, but I do like those motors, so I include them for completeness.

Her first flight on an E9-4 couldn't have been any better. Boost was straight with very little weathercock and no sign of instability. Ejection was right at apogee, and not a scratch on her after touchdown. Her next flight was on a D13, and the ejection charge was a bit much. She received numerous dings in the finish, and lost one of the tiny forward canards. All easily repaired, though.

After being fixed, I put her up on a D12-5. The motor failed to eject, though, and she lawn darted in. The BT-55 was toasted, but the BT-60 was fine. She lost another canard, but replacing that and the first three inches of lower body tube will make her right as rain.

During this repair I discovered something odd about the Estes decal set #2995 I drew the star and bars from; none of them are the same size! Luckily I had just purchased two sets and was able to use the same one from both sets. I also gave her a complete repaint, including a clear coat with Frog Spit.

As she would garner more complexity points for me in Sport Scale, I entered her instead of my purpose-built Black Brant VI. While she didn't do poorly, a better seal on fins and body tubes would have added to her score, I'm sure. Still, I didn't build her for that purpose, and it was nice to know that she did moderately well. Her flight for that event was on a D15-4 which ejected late, but not overly so, and only loosened one of the forward fins.

Her next flight on an E9-4 showed some instability, though; more nose weight is needed before I fly her on that again. One of the forward fins came loose at ejection, which was at near horizontal after a severe weathercock. After adding some more clay in the nose, she's ready to go again.

Specifications

Statistic	Article	Model
Length	41' 2"	24.3"
Span	11' 10"	8½"
Weight	6,200 lb.	4.85 oz.

Estimated Performance

Engine(s)	AGL (ft.)	Speed (ft./sec.)	Accel (Gs)
C4-3	270	90	6.3
C5-3	285	115	12.7
C6-3	265	110	7.9
C11-3	250	135	12.0
D12-5	550	210	15.9
D13-4	660	270	13.4
D15-4	590	250	16.4
D21-4	655	310	20.0
E6-4	1,390	205	10.2
E9-4	875	245	8.9
E11-4	985	295	8.9
F10-4	2,320	300	12.2